D&D 5E Size Matters Rules Purposal for 5E

[Sunseeker]

Sadly, I think you are right. Still, it would be nice to be able to play D&D without a giant table or flat surface, a $30-60 battle mat, a stack of wet erase pens, dozens of counters and/or tokens, and countless pewter or plastic figurines. If they could reduce the game's ingrained dependency on grids altogether and make them optional (rewrite the rules for flanking and the Mobility feat, for example, so that one doesn't have to draw a diagram or use a mat to apply them fairly, but could do so if they desired), it would be an even bigger draw for new and old players.

Provided that distance is measured first in some standard unit of measure, such as feet or meters, and then translated into squares later, then you can. I certainly can and do play in such a manner in some of the games in which I participate.

Things that talk about "adjacent" opponents or allies really don't imply the need for a grid. You just use narration to say that you or an enemy or an ally are adjacent instead of a map.